Personal narrative and the ethics of disclosure: A case study from elite sport

Abstract

In this article the ethics of disclosure through personal narrative are explored through a relatively benign autobiographical vignette concerning the background to a doctoral study on referee communication in rugby union football. It deals specifically with the referee’s encounters with three key 'actors': his mentor, a club coach, and a player (with a rich and therefore identifiable biography) who was 'sin binned' in a particular game. Through it, four substantive themes are explored: (i) the impracticality of voluntary informed consent; (ii) anonymity — and the possibilities for the errors of disclosed identities and mistaken identities; (iii) risk of harm; and (iv) violation of privacy.